Staff Photo by Margaret Fenton
A baby cotton-top tamarin monkey rides around on her mother, Maggie, at the Chattanooga Zoo on Tuesday afternoon. She and Fang had their first baby on May 5. Zookeeper Kate Warner said none of the staff will touch the baby until it is more than a year old. Tamarins in captivity typically reject babies born there, making Maggie and Fang's parenting an exciting anomaly.

After local residents and visitors spent a month suggesting names for the Chattanooga Zoo's new baby monkey, officials have chosen a winner.

The female cottontop tamarin now is called Maya, zoo spokeswoman Robin Derryberry said. Maya is also the name of the Roman goddess of spring who gave her name to the fifth calendar month of the year, the same month the monkey was born, she said.

Many people were interested in naming the monkey "because (she is) an endangered species, and because (the monkeys) are just so doggone cute," Ms. Derryberry said.

The zoo held a contest in October to give people the chance to name the latest arrival, with participants dropping their suggestions in a box at the zoo's gift shop.

Zoo officials chose the name from more than 500 entries, Ms. Derryberry said. Both Sharon Roberts, of Dalton, Ga., and 4-year-old Brie Schrudl, of Hixson, submitted the name Maya, according to Ms. Derryberry.

"The name fit," she said.

Each winner will receive a gift package from the zoo with membership passes, items from the gift shop and other zoo-related material, Ms. Derryberry said.

Because of the rarity of the long-tailed, soft-coated breed, zoo officials wanted the community involved in the process of selecting the baby's name, Ms. Derryberry said.

"It's wonderful to have a new baby at our zoo and even more special to have one that is on the endangered species list," Darde Long, the zoo's executive director, said in a news release.